Of course, but some people here think he's only playing Pirlo out of fear.
I am one of these, I think he's afraid of benching Pirlo. The team clearly plays better without him at this point, and in a match like this, it has written Pirlo blunder all over it. Allegri is an intelligent guy and obviously knows this. Maybe it's a reach, but I do think he's playing Pirlo to keep him happy and not mess with squad harmony.
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in the end he's playing and that's it. One of the reasons Allegri gave for this is to have Pereyra on the bench, because if he plays Pereyra, he has almost no offensive option on the bench, no options to change the match.
To me this is BS, since it's 90 minutes and your best suited side for the match should be playing from the beginning.
Anyway, I hope Pirlo plays well and savy.